#Umzinto: Nawaaz Khan Missing Head Found

Nawaaz Khan who was the victims of a suspected ritual killing. Image Source: Rising Sun Chatsworth

The Umzinto SAPS Detectives and forensic experts, recovered the head last night in a gumtree plantation in Ellingham, adjacent to the N2 freeway in Park Rynie.

On Tuesday, 10 November, at about 16:30, investigators were informed that the community of the Msholozi temporary housing settlement in Umzinto had surrounded a house that the wanted suspect had visited. A 31-year-old man was arrested and detained. Investigations led detectives to the scene where the head was recovered.

The head, which was in an advanced state of decomposition, had been placed in several plastic shopping bags and buried in the ground. It has been removed to the Park Rynie State Mortuary where tissue samples would be obtained for forensic analysis to confirm that it is indeed that of the deceased Nawaaz Khan.

The arrested suspect who resides in Malangeni, is due to appear in the Umzinto Magistrates Court later this week. We would wish to conveys our thanks and appreciation to the communities of Umzinto as well as the Community Policing Forum (CPF) for their support and assistance in apprehending the suspects and solving this gruesome murder.

A 21-year-old suspect is in police custody and is expected to appear in the Umzinto Magistrates Court today. He has made a full confession to a commissioned police officer yesterday. Police have launched a manhunt for the traditional healer who is on the run. He is known to the detectives who expect to take him into custody soon. They are hopeful that his arrest would lead to the victim’s head and the murder weapon being recovered. Two more people, one from Msholozi Informal Settlement in Umzinto and the other from Dumisa, were taken in for questioning on Sunday night, 8 November 2015. They each allegedly bought one of the two cellphones that had belonged to the deceased.

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni commended the police on the arrest of the suspect. “We strongly believe that the arrest of the alleged traditional healer is imminent. It is totally unacceptable that such cases are continuously being reported. We urge members of the community not to follow instructions of such merciless traditional healers but to rather report them to police,” she said. Read the earlier story here